“The postman no longer rings twice,” wrote Frank DeFilippo, in a recent column posted by news outlets in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In contrast, he added, “back in the day the Pony Express and its daredevil riders became early western cinematic celebrities for braving treacherous terrain, marauding bandits and worse weather than Texas and yet relaying […]
The Long Legacy of the Short-lived Pony Express Read More »
“I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately,” said President Woodrow Wilson on April 2, 1917. Wilson’s somber tone was merited because, having narrowly won reelection in 1916 on a campaign that prominently noted “He Kept Us Out of War,”
What Can We Learn from Woodrow Wilson and World War I? Read More »
On April Fools’ Day, I’ve been pranked by my own (late) father and his stamp collection. And, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I almost fell for it. In fact, I was getting ready to write a #stampoftheday post about how I had recently rediscovered that my father’s collection included four rare stamps issued
The 1869 Eagle and His Friends Got Me on April Fool’s Day Read More »
“The Goldberg Variations” That’s what Nisa, my amazing sister-in-law said has been helping her through the past, difficult several months. It wasn’t a random comment. Every Passover, over dinner, we go around the table (or the screen) and give each person an opportunity to talk about freedom and/or their narrow place, if they choose. Nisa
Playing the Goldberg Variations to Honor Crawford Long and Other Medical Workers Read More »
Did Frances Elizabeth Willard, the long-time president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), ever go to a Seder? If she went, did she follow tradition and drink four glasses of amazingly sweet Kosher wine? Or did she follow WCTU’s dictates and, as many people do, drink four glasses of grape juice instead? I ask
What Did Francis Willard Drink at Her Passover Seder? Read More »
Who has appeared on the most US postage stamps? It’s not a trick question. Rather, not surprisingly, the answer is George Washington, who was, famously, “first in war, first in peace,” (and for the many years that Washington Senators baseball team existed, “last in the American League.”) Washington not only appeared on many stamps, in
Jean Antoine Houdon and the Many Postal Faces of George Washington Read More »
When President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, he continued a bizarre pattern that began in 1840 and (much to Joe Biden’s relief) apparently ended in 1980. Consider: William Henry Harrison, who was elected in 1840 died (probably from drinking bad water) in April 1841. Abraham Lincoln, who was elected to his first term in
McKinley, A Macabre Streak and a Very Big Mountain Read More »
To a man with a post office, every problem looks like a stamp. At least that seems to be the thinking behind today’s #stampoftheday, a 4-cent stamp issued in 1961l. Unlike most stamps, it doesn’t picture a person or a place. Instead prominently features seven of the most famous words in American history: “Give me
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Charlie Brown Read More »
Although I thought this post was going to be about some notable songs that Woody Guthrie wrote 80 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, it turns out it’s actually about some powerful words spoken today in Atlanta by Vice President Kamala Harris. So bear with this train of thought. Or put another way, sit down
Woody Guthrie, Kamala Harris and the Grand Coulee Dam Read More »
You would think that after writing 337 #stampoftheday posts, that a stamp could no longer surprise me. While you’d usually be right. Today you are wrong. The stamp that surprised me is a 5-cent stamp, issued in May 1907, that portrays Pocahontas, who died on March 21, 1617. It was one of three issued in
Pocahontas Surpised Me Read More »